POLITICO Playbook – 12 days till the 112th Congress – Boehner to allow iPads on House floor -- Krauthammer: 'Obama came back with a vengeance' – What POTUS is reading

NORAD SANTA TRACKER: “For more than 50 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa’s flight. The tradition began in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement for children to call Santa misprinted the telephone number. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief’s operations ‘hotline.’ The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole.” http://bit.ly/5HDNma

PORTABLE NORTH POLE: “With just a few clicks, this technological marvel will let your loved ones receive a personal message from Santa Claus, sent directly from his village in the North Pole.” With options for Toddlers, Children and Grown-ups.http://bit.ly/h7243N (antler tip: Blain Rethmeier)

Happy Christmas Eve. Our sleigh will be blades-up for Wilsonville, Ore., later this morning. So for the next few days, you’ll be getting the famous Playbook “Bonus Room Edition” from my sister’s house. Why Playbook on Christmas? Same reason as Playbook on weekends: It turns out that many of you find it even more enjoyable/useful when you’re not on the grid all day, and maybe are back home and don’t get the blue bag.

OPEN ME FIRST – TechPresident’s Nancy Scola gets the Heads-Up Award: “Proposed U.S. House Rules Welcome (Quiet) Mobile Devices to the Floor … iPads are indeed coming to the floor of the House of Representatives … In this last Congress, the 111th, the House operated under a rule that dictated that no one shall ‘smoke or use a wireless telephone or personal computer on the floor of the House.’ But, according to copy of the proposed rules, … that section has been tweaked for the 112th congress to give the Speaker of the House wide discretion in dictating what sort of mobile technologies members and staffers can bring to and use … ‘A person on the floor of the House,’ read the new proposed rules, ‘may not smoke or use a mobile or electronic device that impairs decorum,’ italics added. … [A] spokesperson for the GOP transition team confirms that the rules are intended to allow members of Congress and others in the House to use devices like iPads and BlackBerrys.” http://bit.ly/gdzbec

-- Brendan Buck, spokesperson for the House transition, tells us: “The definition of what is ‘disruptive of decorum’ will likely evolve over time, but of course devices are not to make sound and members are not to be speaking on their phones while on the floor. However if a member wants to read an amendment, for example, on their iPad, that would be allowed.”

(Act surprised when you come to the full list of Boehner promotions at the end, but Brendan – the pride of Alpharetta, Ga. -- will be a press secretary for the Speaker, focusing on the White House press corps.)

-- Summary of proposed changes to House rules, released yesterday by Boehner’s office. http://bit.ly/fuZvaZ

HUGS for Bloomberg alumnus Judith Czelusniak. Her mom, Helen Czelusniak, passed away Tuesday. Judith e-mails: “As she died, the hands of her daughters and granddaughters were upon her … Her funeral will be at 9:30AM [today] at Holy Cross R.C. Church in Maspeth [Queens]. Please say a little prayer for Mom and thank you for all of your support through these rough days. Love, Judith.”

SANTA RALLY:

-- AP Retail Writers Ellen Gibson and Anne D'Innocenzio: “the best holiday season since 2007, and possibly the best ever.”

--NYT A1, “Experts Citing Rising Hopes for Economy,” by Sewell Chan: “Economists in universities and on Wall Street have raised their growth projections for next year. Retail sales, industrial production and factory orders are on the upswing, and new claims for unemployment benefits are trending downward. Despite persistently high unemployment, consumer confidence is improving. Large corporations are reporting healthy profits, and the Dow Jones industrial average reached a two-year high this week.” http://nyti.ms/fML9Ul

--Financial Times splash, “Rally points to 2011 cheer … Best December stock gains in decade”: “A powerful end-of-year stock market rally has sent equities to their highest levels since the collapse of Lehman Brothers more than two years ago, with hopes for the US recovery encouraging investors to pull billions of dollars out of bonds.”

LAST-MINUTE GIFT for anyone who saw “Waiting for ‘Superman’”: Cornerstone School (“Hope and Academic Excellent in the Nation’s Capital”) is an oasis of love and rigor in inner-city D.C., serving 220 students, almost all African-American, in pre-K3 through ninth grade. The executive director and principal is Clay Hanna, a young father of three and former Army captain who was awarded the Bronze Star during 600 combat patrols in Iraq. The ninth grade is new this year, and Clay hopes to add one grade each year as the current class advances. Any amount will be used wisely, and directly on kids. Through Dec. 31, an anonymous donor is matching gifts, dollar for dollar, up to $75,000. Homepage http://bit.ly/ezWEdH Onlinegivinghttp://bit.ly/gWOrW3

UNDER THE TREE:

--Charles Krauthammer, “Obama’s new Start: A triple crown levels the playing field for the next Congress” (WP’s online tease: “Republicans Beware”: “Riding the lamest of ducks, President Obama just won the Triple Crown. He fulfilled (1) his most important economic priority, passage of Stimulus II, a.k.a. the tax cut deal … (2) his most important social policy objective, repeal of ‘don't ask, don't tell’; and (3) his most cherished (achievable) foreign policy goal, ratification of the New START treaty with Russia. Politically, these are all synergistic. The bipartisan nature of the tax deal instantly repositioned Obama back to the center. And just when conventional wisdom decided the deal had caused irreparable alienation from his liberal base, Obama almost immediately won it back - by delivering one of the gay rights movement's most elusive and coveted breakthroughs. ... Republicans will enter the 112th Congress with larger numbers but no longer with the wind … at their backs. … Obama came back with a vengeance. His string of lame-duck successes is a singular political achievement. Because of it, the epic battles of the 112th Congress begin on what would have seemed impossible just one month ago - a level playing field.” http://wapo.st/hZ1jmy

-- WP A1, “Scanner firms rely on Washington insiders: 80% of industry’s lobbyists once served in Congress or worked in government” (part of an “Agony at the Airport” series on air-security issues), by Dan Eggen: “Many of the scanner companies are … on pace to spend record amounts of money for lobbying this year on Capitol Hill, where they see potential problems as some lawmakers push for limits on airport-security practices. Top scanner businesses have reported spending more than $6 million on lobbying this year … The stepped-up lobbying efforts by the industry come amid growing rancor on Capitol Hill over the Transportation Security Administration's use of airport full-body scanners … The agency has purchased nearly 500 of the cutting-edge scanners - at $200,000 or more each - and plans to buy thousands more, meaning that any restrictions would pose a major threat to the industry's bottom line.” http://wapo.st/f584sP

STOCKING STUFFERS:

--AP’s Julie Pace, in Honolulu:POTUS is “being joined on vacation by Chicago friends Marty Nesbitt and Eric Whitaker. On the president's reading vacation reading list: ‘President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime,’ Lou Cannon's biography of the Republican president.”

-- Jeff “Jay-Z” Zeleny has two tidbits in a catch-up story on the coming staff changes: “The White House is hiring more lawyers to handle oversight investigations from the new Congress … [Obama] recently completed ‘The Clinton Tapes,’ by Taylor Branch, who chronicled the 42nd president through a series of private interviews.” http://nyti.ms/hYWjhk

MAKING A LIST – “Boehner Announces Communications Team for New Speaker’s Office”: “ “The following staffers will serve as the Speaker’s communications team under Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Operations Dave Schnittger and Director of Communications Kevin Smith”:

-- Michael Steel will continue to serve as Press Secretary for the Speaker, focusing on the Capitol Hill press corps and national media. Steel joined the Boehner team in January 2008, after serving as Communications Director for House Ways & Means Committee Republicans and Press Secretary for Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ).

-- Brendan Buck will serve as Press Secretary for the Speaker, focusing on the White House press corps. Buck was Communications Director for the America Speaking Out/Pledge to America initiative in 2010 and most recently served as spokesman for the House GOP Majority Transition Team.

-- Michael Ricci will be Director of Speechwriting for the Speaker. Ricci joined the Boehner team in 2009 as Deputy Director of Communications. Prior to that he worked for Rep. Chris Lee (R-NY) as Communication Director and the House Republican Conference under then-Chairman Adam Putnam (R-FL) as Deputy Communications Director.

-- Don Seymour joins the Speaker’s staff as Deputy Director of Communications. Since 2007, Seymour has served as Boehner’s political communications director at the Freedom Project, Friends of John Boehner, and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). Seymour, a graduate of Miami University in Ohio’s 8th Congressional District, earlier worked as Press Secretary in Boehner’s personal office. ‘

-- Bill Greene will serve as Director of Outreach for the Speaker. Greene, who re-joined the Boehner leadership staff in 2007 after jobs in the White House and Energy Department under President George W. Bush, will focus on working with outside groups and grass-roots.

-- Nick Schaper will serve as Director of Digital Media for the Speaker, responsible for online media strategy and the application of web-based communications tools.

-- Katie Boyd will serve as Assistant Communications Director. Boyd joined the Boehner leadership communications staff in 2010 following stints with Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), the Republican National Committee (RNC) research department and the private sector.

-- Betsy Andres will serve as Director of Advance for the Speaker, responsible for logistics at all events involving the media. Andres joined Boehner’s leadership staff in 2009 after working in the private sector. She previously worked for House Ways & Means Committee Republicans, the House Republican Conference, and the NRCC.

-- Courtney Kolb will join the Speaker’s press office in 2011 as Deputy Press Secretary, handling booking, logistics and other duties for the Speaker’s press office. Kolb has worked for the past several years at the House Republican Conference under chairmen Mike Pence (R-IN) and Adam Putnam (R-FL).

-- Bryant Avondoglio will join the Speaker’s press office next month as Advance & Digital Production Manager, assisting in the management and production of Speaker events as well as social media strategy and web development.

And laying his finger aside of his nose, And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!